Merthyr’s Prince Charles Hospital has longest A&E waits in Wales

Over 2,000 patients have been waiting longer than 24 hours for treatment over the last 12 months

Merthyr’s Prince Charles Hospital where patients have been waiting longer than 24 hours for treatment

Prince Charles Hospital topped a list of A&E waiting times in Wales, according to figures obtained by Welsh Conservatives.

In the last 12 months, more than 2,000 patients across Wales waited longer than 24 hours to receive emergency medical treatment.

More than a quarter of these patients were treated at Prince Charles, where 533 people were kept waiting more than a day.

The figures, obtained in a Freedom of Information request, showed that on average every week between July 2012 and June 2013, 39 people waited more than 24 hours for treatment in Welsh emergency departments.

“Waits of just a few hours will be distressing and uncomfortable for many. Spending more than a day waiting to be treated or discharged is unthinkable.

“These figures are unacceptably high and demand a guarantee of improvement from Labour’s First Minister.

“Four and eight-hour A&E targets have not been met once since Carwyn Jones took up his position nearly four years ago. It is now clear that the problem of A&E waits runs even deeper than first thought.

“This is only making a dire situation far worse and I urge ministers to rethink their plans and invest appropriately.”

Patients have spoken of their own experiences at Prince Charles where they have been kept waiting for long periods of time for treatment. Carole Anne Hall said: “My husband and I have waited eight and a half hours. He had viral conjunctivitis and when he was finally seen at 3am by a young doctor, he recommended we go home and return at 8am.

“We returned at 8am and were advised to go to Royal Glamorgan to see an eye specialist. We went straight there and within an hour, my husband had been assessed, saw a consultant and was walking out of the hospital with medication.

“What a difference. The A&E at Prince Charles clearly needs addressing as a matter of urgency.”

In response, Allison Williams, chief executive of Cwm Taf Health Board, said: “We care for two distinct groups of patients within our A&E departments – some patients who are in beds in short-stay units for assessment and some patients who are on trolleys waiting to be admitted to a hospital bed.

“Our data has included both these categories of patients in the response to the Freedom of Information Act request for figures of patients waiting more than 24 hours in A&E departments.

“Our data does not distinguish between those patients waiting to be admitted and those being assessed in short-stay units co-located in the A&E departments.

“There are occasions when patients do experience longer than expected waits to be admitted to a hospital bed and while this is not ideal, our staff continue to provide high quality care and compassionate care.”

In contrast, latest figures show 483 patients spent 12 hours or more from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge in June 2013 – a drop from more than 2,200 since April 2013 when the target was introduced.

A Welsh Government spokesman highlighted this fact and said: “Waiting times in A&E, including at Prince Charles Hospital, have improved since April with the percentage of patients being seen within four hours reaching 91.2% in June and 89.1% in July respectively.

“Since April, the number of patients spending 12 hours or more in emergency care facilities has also significantly fallen. This is a considerable achievement and shows the Health Board is moving in the right direction to tackle the challenges facing A&E.”

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